Skrillex vs. Knife Party at the 1stBank Center, 10/31/12 (photos and review)

Skrillex, the reigning king of dubstep, took on challengers Knife Party last night in a 2-hour Halloween juggernaut at Broomfield’s 1stBank Center, but the victors were clearly the packed-in and well-costumed audience.

Pounding the wild crowd from the second floor of a two-story haunted mansion on the huge stage, Sonny John Moore showed beyond any doubt why he’s a master at the cathartic bravado behind dubstep’s allure. Knife Party’s two members, Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, alternated control of the noise with Moore to prove they were strong contenders threatening to take the throne.

If Dubstep is the deconstruction of music into its basic elements and reconstruction into a Frankenstein monster of distorted, explosive and super-heavy bombast, then Skrillex is the genre’s potent alchemist.

Naturally, easily, Skrillex whipped electronic blasts from rave legends like “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” “Reptile” and “First of the Year (Equinox)” into the mix as a furiously pumped-up crowd reacted to every beat. The three artists closed their set with a sweeping version of “Cinema” that Skrillex dedicated to his recently ended relationship with Ellie Goulding.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Halloween without costumes, and this crowd was decorated well (though most of the young crowd would likely be dressed in similar fashion for any Dubstep gig, to be honest). There were girls wearing outfits that would seem immodest even for the bedroom (and more often than not seeming to try and cover their near-nudity with what little material their outfits contained, curiously), a few DeadMau5 copies, full-on furries from raccoons to squirrels to bears, a giant rubber ducky and more. One banana-clad fellow could not have been sporting underwear at all – or at least not in any understandable fashion — as he ran up and down the bowl seats.

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Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of Denver’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s explorations at DenverThread.com, and his giglist at Gigbot.

Shannon Shumaker is a Denver photographer and huge follower of the Colorado music scene. You can find more of her work on Facebook.